![]() ![]() Newton’s three laws of motion, published 20 years later in his Principia, established that every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it, that force equals mass times acceleration and that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. His simple equation for universal gravitation, written in 1666 when he was 23, helped overthrow more than a thousand years of Aristotelian thinking (reinforced by Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy) which said that objects only moved if an external force drove that motion. The theory helps us predict how objects as large as planets and as small as individual colliding molecules will interact it shows us the way earthquakes ripple through the Earth’s crust and how to build building that can withstand them. Newton’s theory of universal gravitation says that every particle in the universe attracts every other particle through the force of gravity. In calculus, Newton laid the basic framework for understanding these problems and for making the calculations described by his laws of motion and gravitation.New Scientist once described Isaac Newton as “the supreme genius and most enigmatic character in the history of science.” His three greatest discoveries - the theory of universal gravitation, the nature of white light and calculus - are the reasons why he is considered such an important figure in the history of science. Calculus is particularly suited to these challenges because it produces information about things that are continually changing - like the speed of a falling object. Originally called the fluxions or the "method of series and fluxions," calculus provided methods for solving complex problems about orbits, curves and other issues that classical geometry couldn't solve. Newton also created calculus as a response to the insufficiencies in mathematics of the time. Barrow's presentation of it to the Royal Academy earned Newton membership. His new telescope, the reflecting telescope, was one-twelfth the size of conventional refracting telescopes and had more powerful magnification powers. Newton replaced the mirrors of the refracting telescope with lenses. ![]() The refracting telescope commonly used during the period often couldn't produce clearly focused images. ![]() Isaac Barrow, Newton's mentor, was instrumental in presenting one of Newton's major inventions to the scientific community. Despite his breakthroughs in optics, Newton didn't publish his conclusions until 1704, in "Opticks," which was considered his second great scientific treatise. He used prisms to break apart white light into a rainbow of colors and recombine the disparate colors into white light. He found that normal, or "white," light is actually made up of a spectrum of colors. In his student years, Newton performed experiments in optics examining the nature of light. While imperfect - his law was later altered significantly by Einstein's theory of relativity - Newton's conception of universal gravitation dominated physics for more than two centuries. In Newton's view, gravitational force was everywhere, from an apple falling from a tree to the moon being kept in orbit by its mutual attraction with Earth. His law of universal gravitation laid forth the theory that all particles in the universe exerted some gravitational force. His three laws of motion - inertia, acceleration, and action and reaction - remain a cornerstone of modern physics. Eventually Newton's genius came to be widely known. That same idea formed the basis of his first masterwork, the Principia. His claim that all of natural philosophy - the forebear to the natural sciences - could be explained through mathematics was both groundbreaking and highly controversial when introduced in 1670. Modesty and controversy made him hesitant to share his theories. Newton didn't attempt to publish some of his early discoveries, such as his work on the shape of orbits. ![]()
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